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Added part 2 of the series
''This is the first part of a series of articles on the "physics and astronomy" of the universe of Wurm Online, trying to describe the structure, dynamics and “laws of nature” of our in-game world . The information compiled here has been carefully researched and discussed by a small group of players who call themselves “The Wurm Astronomical Society” (Docterchese, McGarnicle, Valdor, WojorowskiPL and Yaga).''
== Part 1: Basic Metrics ==
[[File:CharacterPerspective.jpg]]
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== Part 2: Time, Date and Calendar ==
One of the first things we notice when observing the world of Wurm Online is the rapid succession of day and night: a full day-night cycle only lasts 3 hours of our real-world time. Thus, we conclude that the planet Wurm rotates rapidly around its axis: 8 times faster than our Earth. (At this point, we will not discuss the physical implications of this observation, nor will we speculate on the possible reasons for the rapid planetary rotation. This will probably be done in one of the following parts of this series.)
'''1 real day = 8 Wurm days''' or: '''1 Wurm day = 3 real hours'''
(By “day” we mean one full planetary rotation, i.e. a complete “day-night cycle”.)
Just like in our real world, the rotation of our planet determines how we measure time. In the Wurm universe, instead of saying that a full planetary rotation lasts 3 hours, it was agreed to split the day-night cycle into 24 time units, called “Wurm hours”. (Bear in mind that this is only an arbitrary convention – we could also have agreed on a Wurm rotation having 12 or 30 “Wurm hours”. By choosing the number 24 we just made it easier for us, because now there are as many “Wurm hours” in a “Wurm day” as there are real hours in an Earth day.)
Once we made that definition, it is clear that
'''1 real hour = 8 Wurm hours''' or: '''1 Wurm hour = 0.125 real hours (7.5 real minutes)'''
It must be noted that this definition has caused a common misunderstanding. On the forums (and even on Wurmpedia) you can sometimes read that “Wurm time passes 8 times faster than real time”. '''This is not true!''' Time in the Wurm universe is the same as time in our real world – we only use a unit of time measurement which is 8 times smaller than in real life! (It is the same effect as if you defined a new unit of length – say: “1 Wurm meter”, corresponding to 25 real centimeters - and you would say that a 1-meter ruler has a length of “4 Wurm meters”. This doesn’t make the ruler 4 times longer than it was before!)
You can easily see that Wurm time passes at the same rate as real time by watching the speed indicator below the GUI status window:
[[File:Speed_Indicator.png]]
Let your character run a while and count the number of tiles you cross in a given length of time. Considering that 1 tile corresponds to 4 meters (see part 1 of this series) you will easily see that the speed indicated in the GUI uses “real time” instead of some kind of pseudo “accelerated time”.
If we take a closer look at the 3 hours defining a full “Wurm day”, we find that Sol (the sun of our planet Wurm) rises at '''04:30''' (Wurm time) and sets at '''19:30''' (Wurm time) each day. That’s why the time between about 20:00 and 04:00 is dark (“night”), and the time between 04:00 and 20:00 is bright (“day”).
Now that we have defined the “Wurm day” and the “Wurm hour”, we also observe that the visual appearance of Wurm’s nature changes as time passes. Just like in real life, we experience 4 different seasons, called “winter”, “spring”, “summer”, and “autumn”. These seasons reoccur regularly after 336 Wurm days. Thus we can define the “Wurm year”:
'''1 Wurm year = 336 Wurm days = 42 real days.'''
This is a convenient number, because 336 = 7 x 4 x 12, allowing us to split a Wurm year into 12 months (called “starfalls”), each with 4 weeks of 7 days.
'''1 Wurm year = 12 starfalls
1 starfall = 4 Wurm weeks = 3.5 real days
1 Wurm week = 7 Wurm days = 21 real hours.'''
The 7 days in a Wurm week are called:
*1. day: Day of the Ant
*2. day: Day of Luck
*3. day: Day of the Wurm
*4. day: Day of Wrath
*5. day: Day of Tears
*6. day: Day of Sleep
*7. day: Day of Awakening
The 12 starfalls are called:
*1. starfall: Diamond
*2. starfall: Saw
*3. starfall: Digging
*4. starfall: Leaf
*5. starfall: Bear
*6. starfall: Snake
*7. starfall: White shark
*8. starfall: Fire
*9. starfall: Raven
*10. starfall: Dancer
*11. starfall: Omen
*12. starfall: Silence
This is the Wurm calendar, showing days, weeks, starfalls, and the seasons:
[[File:Wurm Calendar-small.png]]
